Sunday
Aug262012
The Commentariat -- August 27, 2012
CW: still in business. Spent the day hanging hurricane shutters -- turned out to be pretty easy -- and picking up lawn decorations -- urns, etc., I could lift 5 or 6 years ago, not so much now! Mostly working in a driving rain didn't make these chores much more fun. Update: looks like I did my "preparations" during the worst of the storm for this area.
"The Comeback Skid." Paul Krugman: "Both [Paul Ryan & Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey] have carefully cultivated public images as tough, fiscally responsible guys willing to make hard choices. And both public images are completely false."
Susan Saulny of the New York Times: "After five hours of anticipation, Representative Ron Paul of Texas took the stage [in Tampa] at his 'We Are the Future' rally and proclaimed his 'liberty movement' alive and well, despite efforts to declare it dead or shut it out of the Republican National Convention." (See also Presidential Race.)
Presidential Race
As contributor From-the-Heartland writes, Matthews is terrific in this segment:
... What's pathetic is that none of the rest of those geniuses on "Morning Joe" get it. Tom Brokaw is the biggest phony of them all.
Dan Balz & Jon Cohen of the Washington Post: "The Republican National Convention opens this week with President Obama and presumptive nominee Mitt Romney running evenly, with voters more focused on Obama's handling of the nation's flagging economy than on some issues dominating the political debate in recent weeks. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Romney at 47 percent among registered voters and Obama at 46 percent -- barely changed from the deadlocked contest in early July." CW: this is consistent with a Fox "News" poll published Friday.
Former Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Florida) endorses President Obama in a Tampa Bay Times op-ed: "As Republicans gather in Tampa to nominate Mitt Romney, Americans can expect to hear tales of how President Obama has failed to work with their party or turn the economy around. But an element of their party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they've proven incapable of governing for the people. Look no further than the inclusion of the Akin amendment in the Republican Party platform, which bans abortion, even for rape victims. The truth is that the party has failed to demonstrate the kind of leadership or seriousness voters deserve." Read Crist's whole essay. It's pretty powerful.
"The Do-Over." A funny-but-true Web video by the Obama campaign. It runs 1:43; too bad they can't make a few swing state TV buys:
Matea Gold of the Los Angeles Times: "Mitt Romney said Sunday that he gained no tax benefits by investing part of his fortune in funds based in the Cayman Islands and other overseas jurisdictions, or using a Swiss bank account, saying President Obama's campaign was unfairly accusing him of 'some kind of unsavory action. There was no reduction -- not one dollar reduction in taxes -- by virtue of having an account in Switzerland or a Cayman Islands investment,' [Romney]... told Chris Wallace in a recorded interview broadcast on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'The dollars of taxes remained exactly the same. There was no tax savings at all'":
... Really? Joe Conason of the National Memo: "On the same day that Mitt Romney cracked his birther 'joke,' new evidence indicated that he and his partners at Bain Capital have used questionable methods to avoid federal taxes -- including a scheme that transforms corporate stock into untaxed offshore 'derivatives,' and a practice that converts management fees into capital gains, which are taxed at a far lower rate. While nobody has asked to see the Republican candidate's birth certificate, as he said at a Michigan rally on Friday, everybody has a renewed interest in examining the tax returns he continues to withhold." ...
... ** PLUS, Zack Carter, et al., of the Huffington Post: despite claiming he left Bain Capital in 1999, "according to his 2010 tax return..., Romney ... reaps lucrative tax breaks for 'active' participation in the private equity firm he founded, as well as a host of other investments.... Even if Romney could persuade the IRS his involvement was legitimately active, that still leaves him in a rhetorical jam: For tax purposes, he claims an active status; for political purposes, he claims to have zero to do with the investments.... By describing many of his investments as active, Romney saves himself millions of dollars in taxes. With those active investments, he is also securing a tax break few Americans enjoy: When he wins, he's paying a 15 percent rate on the gain. When he loses, he's writing it off at 35 percent, meaning that tax policy is subsidizing Romney's risk.... In other words, Romney didn't build that, at least not without taxpayer backing."
... Look, Ma. I Can Speak out of Both Sides of My Mouth. Zack Ford of Think Progress: "Just two weeks after a Romney spokesperson faced a barrage of conservative criticism for highlighting the success of the governor's Massachusetts health care law, Romney himself bragged that the measure has expanded access to women's health care services, including contraception.... He has pledged to repeal Obamacare, characterized the law's provision to expand coverage for contraception as an attack against religion, and has suggested that women should 'vote for the other guy' if they expect improved access to birth control.... In the Fox interview, Romney also reiterated his desire to defund Planned Parenthood, arguing that taxpayer dollars should not fund abortion. Abortion constitutes only 3 percent of the organization's services and it's covered by private funds." With video. ...
... AND I can keep on whining, "Obama's picking on me."
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "At the height of the Republican National Convention this week, a potential Category 2 hurricane bearing winds greater than 100 miles per hour appears likely to slam into the Gulf Coast, perhaps close to the already battered city of New Orleans.... Russ Schriefer, a top adviser to Mr. Romney who is helping to produce the convention, told reporters that organizers were keeping a close eye on the storm and may yet adjust the schedule if necessary." ...
... Update: Shear & Jim Rutenberg have a more detailed story: "The prospect of a major storm blowing through the Gulf of Mexico toward New Orleans upset the tight choreography of the Republican convention on Sunday, straining the party's highly scripted plans for showcasing Mitt Romney and raising the possibility that news media attention could shift elsewhere." ...
... Karen Tumulty & Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post on the same subject. ...
... Alex Roarty of the National Journal has a great piece on which party luminaries won't be speaking at the GOP convention.
New York Times Editors: "A long history of social extremism makes Paul Ryan an emblem of the Republican tack to the far right."
Ron Paul Delegates Get the "Nosebleed Seats." Steve Freiss of Politico: "The Republican National Convention seating chart, obtained by Politico Sunday, shows the delegations from Nevada, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota and Oklahoma all located on the outer fringe of the convention floor. Each are states with significant Paul followings." ...
... AND speaking of endorsements (see Charlie Crist above), John Harwood of the New York Times: Rep. Ron "Paul, in an interview, said convention planners had offered him an opportunity to speak under two conditions: that he deliver remarks vetted by the Romney campaign, and that he give a full-fledged endorsement of Mr. Romney. He declined. It wouldn't be my speech,' Mr. Paul said. 'That would undo everything I've done in the last 30 years. I don't fully endorse him for president.'"
Emily Schultheis of Politico: "Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Sarasota, Fla., Donald Trump said Mitt Romney's birth certificate quip in Michigan last week may have been a lighthearted joke, but that the issue of President Obama's birth certificate is far from settled. 'What I think doesn’t matter -- he has his views and many other people disagree with him as you know,' Trump said. '...But he did make a joke, and some people thought it might not be a joke. It happens to be an issue that a lot of people believe in … many, many people believe in it so maybe I would have handled it differently, but he's running for president and I'm with him 100 percent.'" ...
... Update: Isaac Holds the Trump Card. Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post: "As recently as Saturday afternoon, [Donald] Trump was scheduled to collect the Sarasota Republican Party’s Statesman of the Year award and then swoop down to Tampa for a day of wall-to-wall media interviews, meetings with top donors to Mitt Romney's campaign and then, apparently per the presidential candidate's request, a 'surprise' publicity stunt on the convention floor. But these plans went by the wayside after convention officials canceled Monday's events because of Tropical Storm Isaac, which is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane."
New Definitions of Rape: "Detail"; "Method of Conception." Zack Beauchamp of Think Progress: "Governor Bob McDonnell (R-VA) today claimed the issue of a rape exception to abortion was a 'detail' to be left up to states and Congress. On ABC's This Week, George Stephanopoulos confronted the Governor and Party Platform Chair with the absolutist anti-abortion language in the platform he led the development of.... The practical effect of the [Constitutional] amendment [advocated in the GOP platform] would be to render any law that allowed for any abortion in any case unconstitutional.... McDonnell's view of the plight of pregnant rape victims appears to be par for the course in the contemporary GOP. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) recently referred to rape as simply one 'method of conception.'" With video.
Josh Margolin & Beth DeFalco of the New York Post: "Gov. Chris Christie wasn't willing to give up the New Jersey statehouse to be Mitt Romney's running mate because he doubted they'd win, The Post has learned. Romney's top aides had demanded Christie step down as the state's chief executive because if he didn't, strict pay-to-play laws would have restricted the nation's largest banks from donating to the campaign — since those banks do business with New Jersey." CW: you want to take everything coming out of the Post with a grain of salt, but the theory sounds plausible.
Jonathan Chait of New York on what Romney/Ryan are up to: "Blowing up the welfare state and affecting the largest upward redistribution of wealth in American history is a politically tricky project." to do that, the GOP is making its last stand as the whites-only party, assembling its base of crackpots to give themselves one last chance to destroy the social safety net & secure income inequality. CW: how stupid is this? Even if they succeed, & their plan is not totally implausible, won't the next Congresses undo the fruits of their diabolical plot? If Chait is right -- and he may be -- Republicans are counting 100 percent on the stupidity of the electorate. Not a bad bet. ...
... Thomas Edsall in the New York Times on how Romney has subtly introduced racism into the campaign. And, hey, why shouldn't he? Eighty-nine percent of people who identify as Republicans are white-white-whitey-white. Edsall asks at the end of his column whether or not R&R will keep it subtle. He doesn't even mention Friday's birther "joke," which should answer his question. ...
... Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker: "If [Romney] lets the Party's culture war define him, and goes down as its casualty, he will have nobody to blame but himself. He always says that he would rather be talking about how he would fix the beleaguered economy, but so far he has scarcely been more forthcoming on that subject than he has on his income taxes. If he knows what to do, he should tell us. Or is he waiting, betting that things will get worse? Bad news for America remains Romney's best hope."
Paul Harris of the Guardian: "Romneyville" protesters set up tent encampment in Tampa just inside the "restricted" zone for the GOP convention.
News Ledes
Washington Post: six troops who tried to burn 500 copies of the Koran in Afghanistan received unspecified administrative punishments. P.S. The Army made them stupid: "The investigation ... cited evidence of a jarring lack of religious awareness and cultural training among the U.S. troops."
AP: "Four Army soldiers based at Fort Stewart, [Georgia] killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect a militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of anti-government attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday.... In Washington state..., the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state's apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia's goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president."
The Hill: "President Obama on Monday declared a state of emergency for Louisiana, which is expected to be in the path of Tropical Storm Isaac. The action by Obama makes federal funding to the state available immediately, as the tropical storm gained strength Monday, barreling towards the Gulf Coast. The storm is expected to hit the region late Tuesday or early Wednesday, according to forecasters." ...
... The Weather Channel's hurricane tracker for Tropical Storm Isaac is here. "Hurricane warnings have been issued for portions of the northern Gulf Coast as Tropical Storm Isaac continues its west-northwestward march into the Gulf of Mexico.Isaac poses a potential serious threat to portions of the northern Gulf Coast Tuesday into Wednesday."
Mother Nature Thumbs Her Nose at the U. S. National Climate Deniers' Convention in Tampa. Washington Post: "The extent of Arctic sea ice reached a record low Monday, according to the University of Colorado National Snow and Ice Data Center, and is on track to decline further in the next two weeks."
Case Closed. Sort of. BuzzFeed: "The trial court judge in California who has taken over hearing the federal court case challenging Proposition 8, the state's amendment limiting marriages to one man and one woman, ordered the case closed today -- which would allow same-sex couples to marry in California. The couples, however, will have to wait on the Supreme Court to be able to marry. A stay of the case by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals pending the Supreme Court's determination of whether it takes the case means that a 'mandate' will not issue allowing Ware's order today to go into effect."
Guardian: "Fifteen men and two women have been found beheaded in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. Officials said the victims were killed by Taliban insurgents as punishment for attending a mixed-sex party with music and dancing."
AP: "More than a dozen Greenpeace activists have intercepted a ship carrying Russian oil workers to a floating oil platform< in Russia<'s Arctic. Greenpeace said in a statement on Monday that 14 activists chained themselves to the anchor chain of the vessel which was carrying Gazprom's workers to the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea. Gazprom is pioneering Russia's oil drilling in the Arctic. The state-owned company installed the platform there last year and is preparing to drill the first well."
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Reader Comments (26)
The personification of "odious:" Donald Trump.
An insight from the past--which may, if R&R are elected, be a big move forward. Juan Cole's essay on the ill-treated Navy Security Advisor, Gwyneth Todd, who back in 2007 blew the whistle on Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, a Neo-Con and Cheney shill, who was sent to Oil Gulf and Bahrain to set up a nefarious plot, so the US could declare war on Iran. Todd was punished--stripped of her base pass and security clearance, and subsequently left the US for Australia. But, to Cheney's chagrin, she helped avert the coup and the planned war to follow.
We can expect a resurgence of these criminal Neo-Cons if R&R are elected--deficit be damned!
Read about it here: http://www.juancole.com/
Charlie Christ indeed wrote a powerful and ringing endorsement of President Obama, which everyone should read. Whither thou, Colin Powell?
I can't seem to decide on my drinking game rules for the Republican convention. Since they're going to put on the convention of all conventions to cow the public into buying their cheese curds, the shenanigans should be thick.
Thinkin' about maybe a beer for every reference to the influence of God on our forefathers.
A shot for every cry of "Freedom."
A double shot for each close-up of the scarce minority folks representing their brethren amid the aging WASPs.
A dry martini for each reference of guns or the military.
A keg stand for a bold mention of "forcible rape."
Any other ideas? I'd better start stocking up.
I imagine that this has occurred to others, but if Romney went to all the time and expense of securing offshore and Swiss accounts for his money (I imagine with the assistance of a host of accountants and lawyers) and did not get one dime of tax relief for doing so he's a stupid man. What other reason could one have for offshoring money?
@safari: "job creators," "small business," "free market" and "pro-life."
@jack Mahoney: I was wondering myself who would buy Romney's load of bull. If there was no tax advantage to moving his money off shore, why in heaven's name do it?
Romney's claim seems to be that he put his money in these foreign accounts because he had a right to "live his life," & that included investing in foreign companies, currencies, & bonds.
Evidently, he is counting on that 47 percent of American voters who will vote for him to be too dumb to know that you can invest in foreign entities & interests without holding foreign accounts. Will somebody please call him on that charade?
And could we please get a news anchor somewhere who knows how to ask follow-up questions?
Marie
P.S. @safari: you're going to end up drunk as a skunk. Also, good analysis yesterday of "citizens of the world."
@ Marie: "And could we please get a news anchor somewhere who knows how to ask follow-up questions?" This has been my gripe for years. I now have become apoplectic watching the Q&A's–– I have to leave the room and bay at the moon.
Just a reminder, the real problem is not the Republican party, it is the fact that 47% of the American people believe their crap. I am sure it is a coincidence, but remember that 50% of the the American people are dumber than the other 50%. There are similar political parties in other counties but they get 10-25% of the vote. Here the Republicans have two big advantages, religion and the black POTUS.
@PD Pepe ~ ditto! In the past I have only left the room ~ however, now you have given us all a great new outlet: bay at the moon!
@Marie ~ yes, and we need to remind ourselves that Shrub was reelected, thus proving your point.
I think most of us are similarly struck by the latest polls which shows the race neck and neck. The most dissappointing result in the poll: Obama only has a 6- point lead over Romney (if you believethe numbers). Who are these 43% of females who can be so willing to give up the right to control their own bodies?
Another thing is the gullibility of the majority who found Romney better able to "fix the deficit" despite having no credible plan to do so, whereas Obama has been prudent with spending (whether that's a good thing or not in a down economy).
Cut and paste the link below and watch Chris Mathews take the RNC chairman on! It ends with both of them saying what the other one said was garbage, but at least Mathews did not let Scarborough shut him down and Browkaw actually agreed with Mathews. At least that is how I take Brokaw's comments at about 2:55 in - although Browkaw is compelled to say that both sides are engaged in the same thing.
And go to 3:40 in to hear Priebus stating that Obama was following Europe and listen to Chris's reaction - good for Mathews. Priebus resorts to saying that what Mathews was saying was "garbage" and Mathews ends the discussion by saying "it's your garbage."
Do not remain in the link and watch David Gregory as he came on after the commercial break and Mathews and Priebus were off the set. Gregory is such a *(&$#@ supporter for the conservative dogma. It made me want to throw up.
and sorry I don't know how to link to this without the 30 second commercial but trust me it is worth seeing this.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#48799877
Yes, Victoria, were are those females so willing to give up control of their bodies? In an interview somewhere in Virginia, our "serious thinker" Paul Ryan, when asked by the interviewer where he stood on rape, proudly crowed about his pro-life stance and proclaimed that rape is just another "method of conception." REALLY?
Rape is an act of violence perpetrated against someone weaker. Legitimate RAPE, forcible RAPE, date RAPE--which part of RAPE do these bastards not understand? And Paul Ryan, a man who thinks he has what it takes to be vice president of the United States vocally proclaims rape is a "method of conception.
That the conversation in this country is centered around rape, abortion, and the location of the president's birth rather than employment of our citizens, measures to ensure the planet survives the idiots that inhabit it, income inequality, Fourth Amendment erosion, etc., etc., etc., is just flat out incredulous.
My god, we're doomed.
As the Orgy of Racists, Fundies, and Billionaires aka the GOP Convention gets underway, it might be a good time to look back at how the Party of No Black Guys in the White House got so far off the chain.
Within living memory (although that time period is fast slipping into mythic territory), the GOP had a fair number of reasonable members in congress; members whose vision was not permanently occluded by ideology and hatred. No more.
Anyone who thinks so is fundamentally unsound or really hasn’t been paying attention (Bill Keller, can you hear me??). Keller, in the Times, bemoans the situation in which more Democrats do not, like Ron Wyden, want to make nice with Republicans. Well, Bill—pay attention now—I’m guessing this is because Republicans will rip your eyeballs out if you get too close. They HATE bi-partisanship but they love Democrats who believe in it. This is because they can tie their names to bizarre, whacko legislation and pretend it’s okay because “even the Democrat Party loves our ideas”.
Not so.
And any Democrat who seriously thinks it’s okay to try this has a death wish. Even if you could find a reasonable Republican (you own your Geiger counter?) the party politburo would stomp them-- and you-- into the dirt until and unless you agree to let them rip up your original idea and replace it with a Grover Norquist/Eric Cantor/Paul Ryan nightmare. That’s how they do bipartisanship in the GOP.
Which brings us back to the Orgy of Racists, Fundies, and Billionaires. You remember their bi-partisan reasonableness during the debt ceiling crisis?
For the last generation GOP extremists have pushed, cajoled, threatened, and (politically) murdered any Republican who declined to go along with their extremist, treasonous revolution, who declined to sign on the dotted line a document stating that the only things that mattered were tax breaks for the wealthy, theocracy, war, misogyny, racism, tax breaks for the wealthy, and destroying Democrats. Oh, and tax breaks for the wealthy. Things like concern for the poor, the unemployed, and people who don’t have health insurance are right out.
Every election cycle has pushed them closer and closer to the abyss. They all fell in with the 2004 stolen election of George W. Bush. At that point, it was “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war”. War in the middle east and war at home. The chains were slipped off all the maniacs. What seemed crazy back when Newtie was bludgeoning people in alleyways outside the Capitol Building back in the day was now average everyday stuff. The Far Right Supreme Court, with Citizens United stamped “Mission Accomplished” to 20 years of GOP schemes for control.
Now the GOP is pushing an empty shell for president. An empty shell being filled with their special brand of hate, racism, intolerance, and greed. Clearly, none of this is bothering him. The Black Guy bashing will be epic and the Rat is on board.
Of course GOP pundits and commenters wishing, like Keller, that everyone would just play nice, are out there running around with their noses to the ground sniffing up any way they can claim that Republicans, after all, have a point, because, ya know, Obama DID promise to fix all those problems with our house and here he is four years later and we still have problems. They simply neglect to mention the fact that Republicans, while he was working on the roof, stole his ladder; they hid the toolbox; they drilled holes in the foundation and unleashed termites into the basement. Then for kicks, they set the house on fire and set up roadblocks to stymie the fire department. Now they’re blaming Obama for the fact that the roof is burning and the basement is flooded.
I’m sure what they really mean—and they’ll make this clear at the Orgy—is that he’s just the wrong race to fix ANYthing.
After all, it’s called the WHITE House for a reason.
P.S. Safari: you're going to be seriously hammered just on the first two. Lucky for you the networks are only broadcasting an hour of the Orgy every night. Otherwise you'd be risking alcohol poisoning. guaranteed there'll be fifty references to "Freedom!!!!!!!!" in just the first fifteen minutes. It's the default cry of the authoritarian.
Regarding Romney's ludicrous assertion that all those offshore accounts, tax shelters and other assorted machinations are being done to no advantage at all, one can take comfort in what a total but not very accomplished liar he is. First, I firmly believe that Romney would not expend the energy to the use the rest room if he didn't firmly believe it would provide him with some kind of benefit (although I think he's been remiss on the number twos, one reason he's so full of it). He wouldn't eat if he didn't think there was some benefit. Everything the Romneybot does has a cost/benefit calculus involved. Getting married, having kids, creating Bain, putting people out of work, lying about Obama, everything. Spend all that time and money for tax attorneys and NOT realize a single penny's benefit?
Pardon me while I do my impression of the Romneybot laughing:
Ha--ha--ha--ha--(repeat program as long as necessary) ha--ha--
But really, what does he care? We'll never see proof one way or the other. He could claim he donated millions to Orphans of the World and we'd never know. And that's another cost/benefit calculation by the Ratbot.
As for gutless interviewers, I found this one recently and thought it might be fun to share:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vefD3WSiis
This is an Irish interviewer in 2006 holding Dubya's slimy feet to the fire. He doesn't take it well. Her first question is about the problems caused by his war. She tells Smirking Frat Boy that the Irish people are angry over Iraq, over Abu Ghraib, etc. and how does he feel about this. Bush answers that there's lots of Irish in America. He thinks that should do it but she ignores his bullshit and asks the question again. Now he starts to get pissed and talks over everything she has to say after that but she doesn't give up. Can you see David Gregory doing this interview? As soon as Bush talked about how much he liked the Irish, Fuzzy Gregory's tiny rented balls would drop off.
Re: too big to disclose; Mitt keeps some cash overseas not for tax advantages but because his banks here in the states are full. I've got the same problem with dog biscuits, the overflow from the cookie jar in the kitchen I stash in the garage. Why would that be an interest to anyone but me?
Just had a chance to watch Chris Matthews smack that smug little shit Priebus. Terrific stuff. Also agree with Marie that Tom Brokaw, even though he wants to make a decent point about GOP attacks, is completely disappointing in his nonchalance (obtuseness?) about the overt racism underlying nearly everything that comes out of the mouths of Republicans regarding Obama.
Great link.
JJG, I don't think the Rat has a garage big enough for his cash overflow. Besides, that garage is filled with Bentleys and Lamborghinis, and Duesenbergs. And don't forget the elevator.
"Fuzzy Gregory's tiny rented balls"
@Akhilleus. Please please keep at it. I howled out loud at that corrrreeect description of the David.
For some reason, the deliciously vicious Jack Ohman cartoon in this morning's Oregonian is titled Birth Control? But it's not. Best RawMoney satire I have seen for awhile!
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/jack_ohman/
@Victoria D. Please do not wait any longer For Colin. The Countries greatest "dog robber" will never take a stand that requires personal courage. The Generals and later a vice president just kept him around to sell dirty work. Cheney thought of him as a convenient tool. Bush didn't think of him, neither should you.
@Akhilleus, I do so wish you would consider assembling a collection of your comments submitted to this site. I would be first in line to buy a copy. Nobody cuts the republicans down to size like you!
Carlyle. I quite agree with your assessment of Powell. I do think he was very cagey on one of the Sunday shows in refusing to take a stance and wondered whether he has agreed with one campaign or the other to proffer an endorsement to great fanfare at a later date.
A large segment of our fellow voters still look up to him - for some strange reason.
Re: Colon Piles; Once upon a time I was a member of the international stagehand union and it was my job to shine a spotlight on the talent on stage. I was looking forward to listening to Colin's speaking tour after he retired thinking that the audience was going hear some nuggets of truth about the Islamic Wars. (that's my term for our overseas adventures in the Middle East) Instead we were served up a slimy milkshake of frothy B.S. Coming from a guy that spent his entire career climbing the ladder of success and overcoming every obstacle in his path I was surprised and depressed. But I guess once you sell your soul you can't buy it back.
Just got to reading Jonathan Chait's "New York Magazine" piece on the last great white party (linked about a half mile above). It's really quite good. And instructive.
@ Tommy Bones---I get the feeling that Akhilleus has written numerous books, and if not, why not. He's just not telling us
because he's shy and reserved (not!). Can't wait to watch that
GOP convention stuff on the tele. Hope there are a lot of splinters
in those planks and that they all fall on they're arses.
Marie--keep your powder dry ( and everything else, if possible).
Tommy, et al,
Your approbation is warmly welcomed, but I couldn't ever charge anyone here for a single comment. But I may try to collect some that attempt to enlighten (and eviscerate) more than they obscure (and obfuscate).
Thanks for the notion.
I love our little community and look forward each day to reading commentary and perusing pearls of wisdom from all.